Is Anchorage Digital the gateway for a Web3 boom

Crypto bank Anchorage secured $350M in Series D funding at a $3B valuation. Led by KKR, the latest round brings large institutions like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock on board for strategic growth.

Why should we care?
Anchorage received a federal bank charter in Q1. Launched originally as a crypto custody and digital asset management solution for large institutions, it now offers lending, borrowing, trading, and staking services, making it the only fully fledged crypto bank in the U.S. Its existing clientele includes Visa, which purchased a CryptoPunk NFT through Anchorage. Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, believes that banks like Anchorage can popularize Web3 by simplifying access and regulating its landscape. “For NFT-commerce to become mainstream, NFTs should be as easy to purchase as traditional e-commerce experiences,” he said. The big players behind this round of funding seem to agree: Anchorage hasn’t even depleted its Series C reserves, but the latest influx of funds will help major investment firms shape the future of Anchorage in their image. “Many of these investors are also Anchorage's clients or are on a path to becoming clients,” said Diogo Mónica, the company’s co-founder. Declining to cite specific figures, he also said the company has seen client growth increase by nearly 1000% over the past year. As more institutions add crypto solutions to their offerings, and in a de facto monopoly, Anchorage seems poised to tap into the financial industry’s massive portfolios—jet fuel for Web3’s burgeoning virtual economy.